Bidzin Ivanshvili, the billionaire dividing Georgians

Most of the peasants in Chorvil in Northwestern Georgia adore the Bidzina Ivanshvili, their proudest son, who is regarded as a true man in the country’s power.

This is a village with paintings where the roads are good, the houses are well maintained and there are many blue and yellow flags of the ruling Georgian dream party.

“The whole area where you can see new houses and roads was made by our man. There was nothing without him and he did everything for us,” says the resident Mamam Mahawani, pointing to the village from the nearby forest.

Ivanishvili founded the Georgian dream (GD) and the party has been in power for 12 years.

For more than four months, the Georgians have taken to the streets across the country to blame the Ivanishvili party for counterfeiting last October and accused GD of trying to move the country away from its way to the EU and back into the sphere of influence of Russia.

GD denies this and you won’t find anyone with a bad word in Chorville to say about his son’s son.

Ivanishvili made his wealth in Russia in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, first, selling computers before acquired banks and metal assets. He returned to Georgia in 2003

Each bride in Chorvila receives a $ 3,000 cash gift (2300 pounds) from Ivanshvili, according to Temuri Kapanadze, who teaches a story at the village school where Ivanshvili went as a boy.

Unlike most schools in the rural Georgia, it has its own pool and indoor basketball court.

“He reconstructed the hospital, built two churches, fixed all the roads. He made all the roofs throughout the region,” Temuri says.

“I personally received a refrigerator, TV, a gas stove and for five years, the beatin helps us by paying 200 Laris (55 pounds) every month.”

Here, they blame the opposition to the orchestration of pro-EU anti-government protests and use young people as their “instruments”.

“We also want Europe, but with our traditions, and that wants the government,” says the resident Georgi Burvdzhidze. “We are a Christian country and our traditions mean that men should be men, and women should be women. President Trump also considers us as us.”

The view that Europe is trying to impose values ​​foreign to Georgian traditions, such as gay rights, is often repeated by state ministers and pro -government media.

They also reject the daily protests caused by the Georgian dream decision to stop negotiations with the European Union on future membership in the country.

The Fire to the Oligarchy has become one of the main slogans of continuing protests to deal with what people say is the huge influence of Bidzin Ivanschwili on the country’s policy.

“Currently, Georgia is run by an oligarch, who has a very Russian program,” says 26 -year -old Tamara Arveladze, who has joined the protests in the capital Tbilisi almost every day to fight what he sees as the prevailing influence of Ivanishvili.

“He owns everything, all institutions and all government forces and resources. He sees this country as his private property and manages this country as if it is his own business.”

Last month Tamara and her boyfriend had fallen into an incident that was captured on mobile phones And it became viral. They moved to the protest object and called the words “fire to the oligarchy” when a number of masked police surrounded the car and tried to break through.

“It happened in seconds, but I felt like hours. I was shocked how aggressively they tried to do this if they accidentally brought us out of the car, I don’t know what would happen.”

Tamara’s boyfriend has canceled his driver’s license for a year and can face a cursing prison. It is fined $ 3,600, a huge amount in Georgia, where the average monthly salary is more than $ 500.

Following the contested parliamentary elections, criticized by international observers, Georgian opposition boycotted parliament, leaving the ruling Georgian dream to tilt any proposed changes to the law.

“We are witnessing the abuse of legislation,” says Tamar those, director of the Human Rights Program at the Association of Georgian Young Lawyers.

“First, it forbade the face masks, and then they unleashed the camera recognition cameras in Tbilisi. So it makes it easier for them to find out who appears at the rally and then order high fines.”

Last month, fines became tenfold to block the road or do not obey the police, and Tamar Oniani says that in just one day they received 150 calls from protesters who were fined.

Prime Minister Irakli Kobahidze recently condemned protesters as an “amorphous liturgy” and thanked them sarcastically for “filling in the state budget” with great fines.

Tamar Oniani says that “the judiciary is completely captured” and acts as one of the instruments against the protesters for which she believed were beaten in custody.

“They were only tortured for being part of the protest and being a supporter of Georgia’s European future.”

The government denies these allegations.

As the protests began last November, hundreds of government officials lost their jobs after signing petitions criticizing the government’s decision to stop negotiations with the EU.

“The government has decided to clear the public sector of employees who have not been loyal to them,” says Nini Lega, who was among those who lose their jobs.

She was in a senior position in the parliamentary research center of Georgia, who was tasked with providing impartial reports to parliament members and has been removed since then.

“They no longer need it. They have their own policy and do not want someone with an independent analytical capacity,” she says.

Nini says that such “cleansing” has happened in the ministries of defense and justice and other state institutions: “This is happening throughout the public sector of Georgia.”

“They are trying to create another Russian satellite in this region. And this goes beyond the Georgia and beyond the Black Sea, beyond the Southern Caucasus, because we see what is happening in the world. And it is more geopolitical change.”

In Chorvil, the Temuri History teacher Kapanadze sees the government’s approach to Russia very differently: “There are no friends and enemies forever. Yesterday’s enemy can become today’s friend.”

Hear more about this story hereRegarding the BBC World Service assignment